Ruth chapter 3, please. I feel as though maybe we hurried
a bit last study through some of the verses here in chapter
3, so I want to take some time tonight and give them their due
diligence. Let me say in the beginning,
please indulge me again to say that Ruth is a beautiful picture. of the chosen child of God who's
saved by the free and sovereign grace of God. And I think after
each study, we see that, I hope we do, a little clearer, a little
more so. By God's mercy, by God's grace,
the sinner that God has taught and enabled to believe will come
bowing at the feet of Christ, their kinsman, Redeemer. That's
what Ruth did. That's what Ruth did. We seek
the Lord out of need. If you don't have a need, you
won't seek Him. I can assure you of that. But if you, out
of need, seek Him to provide for you all that God requires
of you, you'll receive it. You'll receive it. God requires
perfection and Christ provides it for us. How many times have
we proclaimed that truth to be the gospel? God doing for us
what we can't do for ourselves. And that's because that is the
gospel. That's why Christ died in our
room instead, to provide for us what we could never provide
to God ourselves. Christ, our kinsman redeemer,
that's who we sung about tonight, that's who we read about, that's
who Job was talking about, provides for us all that the thrice holy
God requires from us, and that's no small matter. It requires perfection, and we
can't provide that perfection. You know, the amazing book of
Ruth gives us a beautiful illustration of our kinsman redeemer in the
man Boaz. And notice in verse 11 what he
told Ruth. He said, my daughter, fear not. I will do to thee all. Probably ought to underline that
word in your Bible. I will do to thee all that thou
requirest. And that's what the Lord Jesus
tells all his people. With Christ our kinsman redeemer,
nothing, nothing will be left undone. It'll be perfectly provided for
us. All of it. A true believer will never tire
of hearing that. Why? That's our only hope and
security. That's our only comfort and assurance. That's all our salvation and
all our desire, as David said on his deathbed. This is all
my salvation. There's no other salvation. When
our Lord Jesus said, it is finished. Now listen, it really was finished. Completely finished. Our Lord
provided everything, everything that we needed. He provided the
perfection that God required. And He says, I'll provide all
that thou requires. That's what we see in Boeth.
Why is that? Because we cannot produce a work
or provide a righteousness that God will accept. Well, you say
that a lot, Brother David. Thank you, because that is the
gospel. And we never grow tired of hearing
it. We'll believe the child of God.
We'll believe the testimony of God from the scriptures and we'll
come to Christ the same way that Ruth did. She's the same way
she came to Boaz at midnight. How did she come? In humility. In honesty. and in desperate
need. That's how it will come. And
with desire for Christ, pictured by Boaz, to be their heavenly
husband and eternal protector. Ruth chapter three, verse one.
Then Naomi, her, that being Ruth's mother-in-law, said unto her,
my daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be
well with thee? Now, Found it very interesting
that the word rest there in the original Hebrew language means
settled. Settled. It means secure. When do we really rest? When
we're settled and secure. That's when we rest. Back in
chapter 1 verse 9, you can look back there if you like, Naomi
encouraged both of her daughter-in-laws to return to their home. And look what she said. She said,
the Lord grants you that you may find rest. See that? that you may find rest, each
of you, in the house of her husband." Now, both of their husbands had
died. What she's saying is, go back home and find rest, find
security. Be settled in the house of your
husband. Find you another husband that'll
take care of you. You see, there's rest found for
a married woman. Her husband is to protect her.
He's to provide for her, provide her security. Often when someone
gets married, we say, well, so-and-so settled down and got married. Settled down and got married.
In other words, they joined themselves with another in putting down
roots together. They settled down. Having children
together is their intention in most cases. They joined in marriage
and they become one flesh, the scripture says. And the woman,
especially, no longer looks for safety and security anywhere
else. She found it in her husband,
if he's worth his salt at all. Naomi tells Ruth, shall I not
seek rest for you? Shall I not seek your safety
and security? You know, that's what you want
for those that you love, isn't it? Why? That it may be well with
him. That it may be well with him.
I remember when Amanda got married to Derek. I had no doubt. When she was
dating him, I wondered about it. It's all Father's Day. But he proved himself to be a
faithful man. He's a wonderful father, and
I'm saying that because I knew that he would provide her that
safety and that security that I wanted her to have. Why? Because
I love her. That's what you want for your
daughter. That's what you want for your children. Shall I not seek rest for you?
All believers who make up the glorified church are married
to the Lord Jesus Christ and it is well with them. They're
safe and they're secure and they rest in their heavenly husband. If they don't, there's something
wrong. Why submit yourselves unto your
own husbands as unto the Lord? For the husband is head of the
wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the
savior, deliverer, protector, savior. of the body, Ephesians
5, 22 and 23. And Revelation 19, verse 7 tells
us, how does Christ's bride make herself ready? Well, we've already
said. He said there, I'd left the verse
out, but, well, let's look at it. Hold your place, look at
Revelation 19. Verse 7. OK, let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come
and his wife hath made herself ready. How does Christ's bride
make herself ready? Well, we've already said the
same way that Ruth does. She comes to Christ in humility. She lays at his feet. She comes
to Him in honesty. She says, I'm Ruth, I'm a Moabite. We come to Christ in honesty,
confessing that we're sinners. She comes in need. She must glean
in the Master's field, and so must we. That's what we're doing
tonight. We're gleaning in the Master's
field. She comes with desire to be His wife, and she submits
to Him to love her and to protect her. Lord, have mercy upon me,
the sinner. That's our prayer. That's what
that publican prayed in the temple. Now, back in chapter 3, verse
2, is not Boaz, this is Naomi speaking, is not Boaz our kindred
with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he went with barley tonight
in the threshing floor. And let me there again take a
little time here. That word kinsman gives reference
to a protector. a guarantor of the family's rights. And I remind you that a kinsman
could be called upon to perform a number of duties according
to the law of God, four in particular, to buy back property that the
family had sold, had lost, had to sell all that they had in
order to live. Secondly, to provide an heir
for a deceased brother by marrying that brother's wife and producing
a child with her. Thirdly, to buy back a family
member who had sold himself into slavery due to poverty. And fourthly, to avenge a relative
who had been murdered by killing that murderer, the avenger of
blood. Cities of refuge were set up
for them. So, how does that pertain to
us? We lost everything in Adam. We
lost everything. Adam sold us under sin. And Christ bought it all back.
We were barren of life within. Christ gave us life. We were
sold under sin. Christ paid our sin debt. He's
our kinsman redeemer. We were deceived by Satan and
dead in sin, and Christ redeemed us by becoming a curse for us. Christ fulfilled the law in our
place. He satisfied the justice of God that was against us, and
He fulfilled all the duties of a kinsman for us. He's our kinsman redeemer. He's
our Savior and our Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, Isaiah
60, 16. We were not redeemed, Peter said, with corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. At the end
of the harvest, there was always a celebration and a feast. And
it was a time of celebration after all the hard work was finished.
Boy, it was hard work to harvest the crop. And perhaps Naomi thought,
I don't know, we're not told, but perhaps she thought Boaz
would be more receptive after such a joyous and happy occasion. So she tells Ruth, she says to
wash, make herself look nice. I'm paraphrasing. Then she sends
her down to the festivities, but she's not to approach Boaz
during that time. She is to wait until he's fallen
asleep. Now look at Naomi's words again
in verse three of chapter three. She says, wash thyself therefore,
and anoint thee, put on some sweet smelling perfume, put thy
raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor. But make not
thyself known unto the man until he hath done eating and drinking.
And it shall be, when he lie down, that thou shalt mark the
place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover
his feet, and lay thee down, and he will tell thee what thou
shalt do. Now, some today may view this
as some type of sexual advance. They would accuse Ruth and Naomi
for suggesting it of immorality. Yet, I'm telling you, it is anything
but, as I think we'll see. And look at verse 6, And she
went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her
mother-in-law bade her, And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and
his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the
heap of corn. And she came softly and uncovered
his feet and laid her down. And as we see in verse 7, after
the festivities, Boaz lays down at the heap of corn. It wasn't
uncommon for the owner or a trusted servant of one like Boaz to sleep
near the pile of grain to guard against theft. In verse 8 it
says, and it came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid
and turned himself, and behold, a woman laid at his feet. He
was startled. And he said, who art thou? And she answered, I
am Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over
thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman. Now I want to
spend a little time here. First, I want to bring to your
attention once again that this was a very humble petition. Ruth
calls herself Boaz's handmaid, his servant. Listen, that's what
we are. When we've done all that we should
do, the Lord still calls us unprofitable servants. And she comes to him
saying, I'm your handmaid, I'm a servant. You're deserving of
all my love and dedication. Secondly, she lays at his feet.
the place of a lowly petitioner. How many times do we find in
the scriptures when someone petitioned the Lord for grace and mercy,
they fell at his feet? I wrote them down. I wrote down
a few of them. Peter fell at Christ's feet, claiming to be
a sinful man. You remember that? Jairus fell
at Christ's feet, seeking help for his little daughter. That
Syrophoenician woman, seeking help for her daughter who had
an unclean spirit, fell at Christ's feet. You remember what she said?
Lord, help me. Lord, help me. That woman who
was a sinner, why, she washed Christ's feet with her tears
and dried them with her hair. And that leper, there was ten
lepers that the Lord healed, and one out of the ten. fell
on his face at Christ's feet and gave him thanks. Mary, the
sister of Lazarus, she fell three different times at his feet.
The first time, having chosen the good part, the story we're
well familiar with, she sat at Christ's feet, listening to Him
preach and teach the gospel. The second time, she fell at
His feet, when her brother Lazarus had died, saying, Lord, if Thou
hast been here, my brother had not died. She fell at His feet.
at His feet. And then the third time before
His death, Mary took a very costly ointment and anointed the feet
of the Savior. Oh, I've said it before, I'll
say it again. There's no higher place than at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That demoniac He sat in his right
mind at the feet of the Lord Jesus. He who terrorized folks,
cutting himself with stones, crying and screaming through
the cemetery, now sits in his right mind. Where? At the feet
of Christ. Bidding the Lord to let him go
with him. John, in the book of Revelation, fell as dead at the
feet of the Lord and Savior. My, and friends, that's the place
that Ruth is found. She humbly takes her place at
Boaz's feet. Now, in verse nine, Ruth's words
are the desire of every needy sinner who needs a kinsman redeemer. She said, spread therefore thy
skirt over thine handmaid for thou art a near kinsman. Now,
I found this very interesting. You know, I've always, We thought
that pictured the righteousness of Christ. And it does. You know, Him spreading His skirt
of righteousness. But the word skirt there in the
original Hebrew actually means wing. The wing, the feathers
of a bird specifically. How beautiful is that? Our Lord
Himself told us in Matthew chapter 23 verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sin
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would
not. God used this same terminology
in describing His taking of Israel and His wife. Turn over to Ezekiel
chapter 16 with me. Hold your place here in Ruth.
Ezekiel chapter 16, right after the book of Lamentations. Jeremiah,
find that. Lamentations in Ezekiel chapter
16. You know this passage. But I want you to see this. Ezekiel
chapter 16, verse eight. The Lord says, now when I passed
by thee and looked upon me, behold, thy time was a time of love. And look, and I spread my skirt
over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. That's translated in the New
King James. I like the old one, but the New
King James does say, so I spread my wing over you. I told you the story that Paul
Mindy told me. It's still one of my favorite
stories. I won't go in detail, but basically there was a storm.
They had a chicken that was more like a pet to them, a hen, and
she had some little babies. And after the storm, they found
the mother hen, but couldn't find the chicks. And as they
picked her up, those little chicks fell out from underneath her
wing. Boy, I just love that. When the storms of life come,
oh, we, Our Lord, He spreads His wings around us and protects
us. And that's where we're found
and we're safe and we're secure and we're protected by Him. What
a beautiful picture. Our Lord Jesus gathers His people
under His skirt, under His wings, under His protection. And there's
no safer place for us. No safer place. He covers us
with His perfect righteousness, yes, and with His precious blood. He covers us and we're forever
safe from the wrath and the justice of a holy, strict, inflexible
law and God's holy justice that enforces it. I don't have to
fear. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. But not if you know Christ. Not
if He's your husband. Not if He's your protector. No,
it's not a fearful thing. It's a wonderful thing. Everything's going to be just
fine. There's no doubt that Ruth's intent was to receive a proposal
of marriage from Boaz and to come under wing or the cloak
of a husband's protection, namely Boaz's, and it was no doubt Naomi's
desire. And I find this very significant
and relevant. Boaz had earlier spoken to Ruth. Turn back there with me to chapter
two, verse 12. Boaz here had told Ruth In verse 12, the Lord God of
Israel, now look at this, under whose wings you have come for
refuge. That's where we come for refuge,
under His wing. Ultimately, the Lord was Ruth's
refuge and ours, and it would be the Lord who made Boaz her
Redeemer. In other words, dear friends,
salvation's of the Lord. We see that every time we open
the scriptures. Salvation's of the Lord. Boaz
would not send Ruth away to be protected by God through another.
The Lord had purposed that he himself would take on the duty
of providing and caring for Ruth. Our Lord Jesus entered into a
covenant with His Father before the world began. And He did the
same for those who will become His glorious bride. He'll present
to Himself a glorious church. You know what that means? Without
spot, without wrinkle. Holy and without blemish. What
a picture we have in this true story that illustrates the relationship
between Christ and his church. Now, some of the commentators
that I read, there are negative commentators out there, negative
to the truth of the Scripture, but some say that this is a breakdown
of the typology. It seems from the story that
Ruth chose Boaz to be her husband, not the other way around. Well,
that's ridiculous. It may seem that way, but it's
God who selects those who are to be Christ-bound. And the Lord Jesus did say, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you. So we know that's not the
case. Ruth did not initiate this relationship. Boaz had already taken a great
interest in her, hadn't he? Absolutely. He showed her favor. He sent her home with grain. He protected her against the
young men. He already had an interest in
her. And I don't think there's any doubt that he wanted to be
her husband. that he wanted to be her provider,
that he wanted to be her protector. And what we have here is somewhat
an older man expected Ruth to marry someone much younger. And
Naomi was very wise to recognize that. She knew that Boaz was
a conservative man who may have liked romantic assertiveness. A lot of men are guilty of that.
We don't know how to be romantic. And him being older, maybe that
was the case. So she encouraged Ruth to show
some initiative to spark Boaz's interest. Put on a nice dress. Put on a little perfume. And when the chosen sinner is
called by God, they are to exercise initiative in seeking Christ.
You better believe they are. That's what James said. He said,
draw near to God, and God will draw near to you. In verse 10,
we see that Boaz is deeply touched. He is impressed with Ruth's great
kindness. Did you know that word kindness
there in verse 10 was translated from the Hebrew word hist, I
think is the way you say it, which means a royal love. That's so interesting. It means
a covenant kindness. Not only had Ruth stuck by Naomi,
now hear me out on this, but now she was seeking to fulfill
the obligation of preserving the lineage and inheritance of
her deceased husband. She was seeking Boaz to be a
near kinsman redeemer. This would restore the family
of Limelech and ensure that Naomi herself was well provided for. Naomi was looking out for Ruth,
but Ruth was looking out for Naomi too. There was no sexual
impropriety here. Boaz's response helps us to see
that. If Ruth was doing something immoral,
his first words would not have been to bless her. To bless her
in God's name for her faithfulness and her moral virtue. In verse
11, look what he says. He says, and now, my daughter,
fear not. I will do to thee all that thou
requirest. for all the city of my people
doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. Now in verse 12, Boaz
tells Ruth, and now it is true that I am thy near kinsman. Howbeit,
there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall
be in the morning that if he will perform unto thee the part
of a kinsman, Well, let him do the kinsman part. If He will not do the part of
a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to
thee, as the Lord liveth. You can count on it. It's certain
and sure. Lie down until the morning. Rest,
just rest. It's all gonna be all right.
I'm gonna take care of it. If He won't redeem you, I will. You're gonna be redeemed either
way. Boaz telling Ruth to sleep there
in the morning was to ensure her protection. It wouldn't be
safe for her to walk back through town in the middle of the night
where she could have been approached or harmed. Walking home just
before dawn would be safer. They're not hiding anything here.
Not hiding anything. He's thinking about her and her
safety. See, He's already protecting
her. And He hasn't married her yet. And I think about, isn't
that what the Lord did for us? All those years, Steve, that
I lived in this world, without God and without hope in this
world, He was protecting me all the way. He was seeing to it
that everything was fine and well with my soul. Verse 14. And she lay at his feet until
the morning. And she rose up before one could
know another. And he said, let it not be known
that a woman came into the floor. And it's true that in verse 14,
Boaz does not want anyone to know that she'd been there, but
that doesn't mean anything wrong had it all transpired. He didn't
want the encounter to be misconstrued. He didn't desire for Ruth's reputation
to be brought into question. Maybe he just wanted his intent
of marriage not to become public until he was able to sort this
out with the other kinsman, the other relative who was nearer
kinsman than he. But one thing is for sure, he
had Ruth's best interest at heart. He was going to see to it that
Ruth was redeemed one way or the other. He said in verse 13,
if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then I will
do the part of a kinsman to thee. And I love those last words,
as the Lord liveth. That means it was for certain,
for the Lord liveth. He does liveth, always liveth. You can count on it. Now, we
mentioned this last time, we're gonna spend a great deal of time
on it next time, Lord willing. But in verse 12, we see that
Boaz was not the nearest kin. And what a picture of the law
we have in that. Lord willing, we'll discuss that
more next time. But look at verse 15. He said,
also, also he said, bring the veil that thou hast upon thee
and hold it, And when she held it, he measured six measures
of barley and laid it on her, and she went into the city."
Now, it was a custom, according to Eastern culture, for a woman
to wear a veil. And in many cultures, the veil
represented the covenant of marriage between husband and wife. It
was worn to show the woman's submission to her husband. And Ruth most likely wore this
veil prior to meeting Boaz simply because she was a woman and it
was custom of her culture to do so. And I was thinking, how
does that apply to us as believers, as the bride of Christ? Well,
it's the new man created by the Spirit of God that is submissive
toward God. By nature, we're not submissive
toward God. We shake our fist and we say,
I will not have you to rule over me. The fool has said in his
heart, no God, no God for me and no to God. But when the Lord
creates in us a new heart and makes us new creatures and we're
born again, that we become submissive toward God. Peter said it this
way, who's adorning, let it not be that outward adoring or of
plaiting the hair or wearing it gold or putting on an apparel,
but let it be the hidden man of the heart. in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which
is in the sight of God of great prowess." That's the nature that
the believer wears when God looks upon and that God looks upon
in highly values. It's in this new man that God
makes the everlasting covenant of grace, ordered in all things
insure, between Christ and his bread. And just as Boaz measured
out six measures of barley and put it in that veil, Christ,
our living bread, is formed in us, and we're given a measure
of grace from Him and Him alone. What a picture that is of God's
grace to us. But every one of us is given
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. That's
talking about believers, Ephesians 4, 7. Before Boaz had given Ruth
free bread, he'd done it, before her hand he had, and now he gives
her even more. He giveth more grace. He giveth
more grace. He resists the proud, but he
gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Now this bread was the earnest
of Boaz's promise to see that she was redeemed. And the Lord
gives us His Spirit, the Scripture says, as an earnest, a down payment,
so to speak, earnest money of good things to come. That's what
this picture is. He brings to pass the redemption
of our bodies and to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Paul said it this way, in whom
you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed. with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest down payment of our inheritance. This is just
a small piece of what you're going to get. But you're going
to get it, and you're going to get it all. That's the inheritance
that we have as joint heirs of Christ. Of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession and to the praise
of His glory. Now look at verse 16. And when
she, Ruth, came to her mother-in-law, Naomi, she, Naomi, said, Who
art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the
man had done to her. And she said, These six measures
of barley gave he me. For he said to me, Go not empty
unto thy mother-in-law. Boaz sent Ruth home with a gift
of grain. No doubt this gift was a pledge
of his intentions to marry Ruth, if at all possible, if the other
kinsmen didn't. And this was to give Naomi some
hope and some comfort and confidence of her redemption also. He was
Naomi's kinsman redeemer too. Hopefully, By the grace of God,
our loved ones will see what the Lord's done for us and cause
them to desire the same redemption that God's given to us. That's
all our hope and desire, isn't it? That you might save my daughter,
that you might save my son, that you might save my husband, my
wife. Hopefully, by the grace of God,
our loved ones will see. May God give our family and loved
ones confidence that the Lord is willing and able to save all
who look to Christ and Him alone. Now here at the end of the chapter,
and I'm almost done, if I may paraphrase, Naomi tells Ruth,
gives her this advice. She said, sit tight and wait
and see. Be still. Be still. Sit tight. Wait and see what
happens. Naomi is confident that Boaz,
who has repeatedly demonstrated compassion toward them, will
have the matter resolved before the day is over. I love that
statement there in verse 18 that says, For the man will not be
in rest until he hath finished the saying this day. Our Lord
Jesus, He did not rest in all His years on earth until He had
worked out and finished the perfect righteousness for all that the
Father gave Him. He didn't rest, no, no. Only when He gave up the ghost,
only when He, as a man, said, it is finished. And it was finished. It was paid in full. completely
finished and accomplished, and He became our Kinsman Redeemer. Then He rested. And that's when we can rest,
in knowing that it's finished. That reminds me so much of what
Brother Montgomery's words to us many times over the years.
I can hear him saying it. He often said, child of God,
everything's going to be alright. Everything's going to be alright.
You know what? It is. It is. Everything is going
to be alright with our great Redeemer seeing
to it. All things, everything is working
together for our good if we love the Lord and are thee called
according to His purpose. Because He is our near kinsman,
Redeemer.